New Citizens Look Forward to First Vote

SYRACUSE, N.Y., Nov. 4, 2008 -- Four years ago, Paloma Valoz was 18 years old, but she couldn't legally vote. That's because she wasn't a U.S. citizen. Now, four years later, she says the right to vote couldn't come at a better time.

"It's really cool to be able to vote, especially in this year because this election is extremely exciting and historical," she said.

But the road to Election Day wasn't short. Valoz first came to the United States in July 2001 when she was 15 years old. Her parents left the Dominican Republic in 1998 because they wanted new opportunities, she said. They later sent for her and her brother, and her family now lives in Manhattan, New York. At the time, she said she didn't realize what was in her future.

"When I was in the Dominican Republic, if you had asked me if I needed to leave I would have said no. I had everything I needed. I was going to a good school, we had jobs and a house, but obviously my parents were seeing things I wasn't seeing at the moment," she said. What they saw, she said, was opportunity.

Valoz's father was the first in her family to gain citizenship. At that time, the Syracuse University senior had lived in the United States for five years and was already over 18 years old. As an adult, she had to apply for citizenship on her own.

It started with an application. Valoz, 22, remembers that costing about $500. Now it's $675. The process continued with an interview and a written exam. Valoz remembers the exam, which included reading comprehension, a written portion and American history, as being easy. Knowing English gave her an advantage, she said.

"They asked me questions, like what is the meaning of the stars in the flag? I don't remember the rest of the questions, but they were easy. And that was that and I became a citizen," she said.

But throughout the whole process, the gravity of citizenship never hit her, she said, until the swearing-in ceremony.

"The most emotional part of it was that, before the ceremony, you have to turn in your green card because it's not yours anymore. And when I gave it up, it was weird because it was something I had protected for so long," Valoz said.